Synopses & Reviews
Sheila Hicks (born 1934) is a pioneering artist noted for objects and public commissions whose structures are built of color and fiber. Thisand#160;volume accompanies the first major retrospective of Hicksand#8217;s work; it documents the remarkable versatility and dramatically divergent scale of her textiles as well as her distinctive use, and surprising range, of materials. Hicks deliberately and provocatively engages what are often considered mutually exclusive domains, rethinking and pushing the limits of generally accepted contexts, conditions, and frameworks. These include distinct objects and temporal, performative actions; studio works and commissions for public buildings; and textiles made in artisanal workshops as well as for industrial production in places as different as Chile, France, Germany, India, Japan, Mexico, Morocco, Sweden, and the United States.
Three essaysand#160;analyze the progression of Hicksand#8217;s art and technique and her many modes of working. Among other topics, they examine the artistand#8217;s relationship to the and#8220;expanded fieldsand#8221; of the and#8220;new sculptureand#8221; and the and#8220;new tapestryand#8221; beginning in the 1960s, the reclamation of craft as subject and technique for artists in many media, the integrated influences of international cultures, and the aesthetic, pedagogical, conceptual, and historical framework from which Hicksand#8217;s work has developed. This publication reveals the full extent of Hicksand#8217;s work, from exquisite miniature weavings to major sculptural pieces to such large-scale commissions as The Four Seasons of Fuji. Exquisitely designed and lavishly illustrated, this book demonstrates that Hicksand#8217;s pioneering work with textiles has embraced yet reinvented tradition, successfully navigating the terrain between art, design, and architecture.
About the Author
Joan Simon and Whitney Chadwick are independent scholars. Susan C. Faxon is curator at the Addison Gallery of American Art.